Baltic. It's a suave word, not unlike the word suave itself. And Reckless’ Baltic Porter is a suave beer. If Idris Elba were a beer, he’d be this Baltic porter.
It’s inspired by the Porter Baltique from Quebec brewery Les Trois Mousquetaires,* which the label nods to with its fleur-de-lis and brazen gleam. And while Reckless brewer Anne-Marie Lepage is from Quebec, this isn’t just about parochial loyalty: Porter Baltique is smooth and boozy with a touch of smoke, and it’s a damn fine beer.**
But back to Reckless’ Baltic Porter. It pours as dark as a Quebec winter, with a foamy head that’s Paddington-Bear-brown.*** At 9.3 percent ABV, this year’s version is just a baby compared to last year’s,**** and that alcohol is well integrated so as to bolster the body and sweetness without ever taking over. Manuka smoked malt brings its influence to each of the other flavour notes: rather than simply toffee, chocolate and coffee, you get burnt toffee, the crispy edge bits of brownie, and the smell of roasting coffee right just after the beans reach their second crack.
At the same time as this year’s release, Reckless have brought out some of last year’s Baltic porter that’s been stashed away in whisky and rum barrels. Since it’s not in cans, I told Reckless owner Grace she could just send me some kegs of it to sample. She laughed. Do I look like someone who would joke about barrel aged Baltic porter?
Anyway. This year’s is good, too. Five stars.*****
Then there’s the Black IPA. The first sniff is all hops, the second sniff is all coffee, then they mix in the mouth: pine and citrus and resin and roast and coffee, together at last, with a coffee aftertaste and the classic black IPA roast-and-hop bitterness.
Having said that, this is surprisingly easy-drinking for a black IPA. Many versions of the style seem intent to drag you into a dark alley and steal your wallet then kick you while you’re down. But if this beer were a mugger, it’d be one that asks politely for your wallet, and when you explain that actually your mum gave you that wallet for your birthday so it’s quite special to you but you’ve got twenty bucks if they’d like that, and they say OK that’d be nice thanks.
Mick Wüst
*That’s French for “The Three Musketeers”, for anyone who can’t read French or use Google Translate or, let’s be honest, make a pretty easy guess at what “Mousquetaires” means.
**And happens to be the first Baltic porter I ever had, if anyone cares.
***I swear I wrote this before remembering that Paddington’s surname is, in fact, Brown.
****This is actually right at the upper end for the style; it’s just that last year’s was a style-busting 10.5 percent ABV.
*****The question is, did I include this fifth footnote to give a visual to the “five stars” line, or did I just write the “five stars” line so I could justify a fifth footnote because five is a nice round number?******
****** Can an odd number ever truly be round? – Editor.
Published July 23, 2024 2024-07-23 00:00:00
